Results - Fri, Apr 11, 2014

Carolina @ Detroit 2-1 - The Hurricanes' hopes of playing in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs are dashed, but they did something Friday night at Joe Louis Arena they hadn't done in almost 25 years: Beat the Red Wings in a regular-season road game. Powered by goalie Cam Ward's 28 saves and aided by numerous squandered scoring chances for Detroit, Carolina snapped a three-game losing skid with a 2-1 victory. It was the franchise's first regular-season victory in the Motor City since beating the Red Wings 3-0 on Nov. 14, 1989, as the Hartford Whalers. Detroit had won 16 regular-season home games to go with one tie against the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise since. Elias Lindholm scored the first goal for Carolina, who conclude their regular season Sunday at the Philadelphia Flyers. Ward picked up the win in his fourth start in the Hurricanes' past 10 games. The Red Wings simply missed the net on several prime chances, but Ward made a number of good stops to thwart other quality opportunities. He stopped all 20 of Detroit's shots that were on target in the first 40 minutes and turned away a couple of mini-breaks by Tomas Jurco and David Legwand. Rookie center Riley Sheahan scored for Detroit, and goalie Jimmy Howard made 17 saves. The Red Wings failed to take advantage of the Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning in their battle for wild-card positioning in the Eastern Conference. Detroit and Columbus each have 91 points, as do the Philadelphia Flyers, who are in third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets are in the first wild-card spot over the Red Wings because they hold the tiebreaker with four more wins in regulation and overtime. If Columbus gets two points Saturday at the Florida Panthers, the Red Wings will be locked into the second wild card based on the tiebreaker. The top wild-card team in the East will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, and the second wild card draws the No. 1 seed Boston Bruins. Carolina forward Alexander Semin, injured Thursday against the Washington Capitals, did not make the trip; he has an upper-body injury. The Hurricanes also scratched forward Radek Dvorak with a lower-body injury. Forward Zach Boychuk, who was recalled Friday morning on an emergency basis, entered the lineup and started at left wing on the top line with Eric Staal and Tlusty. The Red Wings finished with a 29-19 edge in shots. They carried the play early but couldn't get one past Ward before Carolina took a 1-0 lead on Lindholm's goal at 8:15 of the first. Detroit was called for too many men on the ice to set up a Carolina power play, and Lindholm made the Red Wings pay on the Hurricanes' third shot of the game. Andrei Loktionov fed a pass down the left wing in the offensive zone to Lindholm, who did the rest at the left side of the net. After Howard slid over to cut off the short-side angle, Lindholm lifted a wrist shot to the far side that traveled just over the Detroit goalie's glove into the net for his ninth goal. The Red Wings finished the opening period with an 11-8 lead in shots, but failed to get one past Ward despite several good chances. Gustav Nyquist nearly tied it at 13:15 after some nifty passing in the offensive zone with left wing Tomas Tatar. A return pass from Tatar gave Nyquist the puck in the right circle with Ward on the ice and out of position, but he fired a shot wide of the net that sailed over the goalie's head. Coming off a shootout loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday that clinched their 23rd consecutive playoff appearance, the Red Wings appeared to get lured out of their typical puck-possession style. That was especially true in the first two periods, when the rush game dominated. Carolina benefited from the up-tempo style. Babcock and others in the Detroit locker room thought that might've been the result of an emotional letdown following a tough battle to make it into the postseason. Tlusty made it 2-0 with his 16th goal, scored with 1:36 left in the first. After sliding behind Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith on the left wing, he put home a rebound of Eric Staal's long wrist shot from above the right circle. The score remained 2-0 into the third after Detroit again failed to convert some good scoring chances into goals during the second. Sheahan finally got the Red Wings on the board 3:43 into the third with his eighth goal, which he scored during a power play by jamming the puck home during a scramble in front of the net. Detroit pushed for the equalizer, but Ward was up for the challenge, winning for the first time since March 22 at the Winnipeg Jets.
Columbus @ Tampa Bay 2-3 - Goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 36 shots in his NHL debut and low-scoring defenseman Eric Brewer had two goals to help the Lightning to a 3-2 victory at Tampa Bay Times Forum. Gudlevskis, who made 55 saves for Latvia against Canada at the Sochi Olympics, began the season with the Florida Everblades in the ECHL, was moved up to the Syracuse Crunch in the American Hockey League and was called up this week after starter Ben Bishop was injured. Nervous or not, Lightning coach Jon Cooper knew he needed to get Gudlevskis in a game before the Stanley Cup Playoffs start next week. Bishop is questionable for the start of the playoffs; if he can't play, backup Anders Lindback figures to get the call and Gudlevskis could find himself dressing. The victory moved the Lightning past the Montreal Canadiens into second place in the Atlantic Division. Each team has one game remaining. The second-place finisher will have the home-ice advantage in their Eastern Conference First Round series. Columbus holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets can assure themselves of a first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins by beating the Florida Panthers in their season finale on Saturday night. Brewer, who had one goal before scoring Thursday, scored twice during Tampa Bay's three-goal second period against Columbus backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who finished with 19 saves. Columbus cut the Lightning's lead to one goal at 16:37 of the third period when David Savard scored his fifth of the season after taking a centering pass from Boone Jenner. But Gudlevskis stopped Columbus' other 10 shots in the period. Tampa Bay opened the scoring with a power-play goal 3:55 into the second period.Ondrej Palat took a centering pass from behind the net by Alex Killorn and slipped the puck behind McElhinney for his 23rd goal of the season. Jenner tied it at 13:46 with a power-play goal. But Brewer put the Lightning ahead to stay 68 seconds later. Cedric Paquette, who was also making his NHL debut, won a faceoff to Brewer at the left point and his shot beat McElhinney. Brewer scored again at 18:06 when his shot hit McElhinney in the mask, then bounced up and over the Columbus goaltender. Michael Kostka assisted, his third assist since returning to the lineup on Thursday from a concussion. The Blue Jackets didn't test Gudlevskis until 6:30 had elapsed, but once they got a shot through, they came in bunches. He finished the scoreless first period with 14 saves. The Lightning were without three regulars for most of the game.Valtteri Filppula was scratched with a lower-body injury,Teddy Purcell sat out with the flu and defenseman Victor Hedman left with a lower-body injury after skating 1:42 in the first period. Additionally, Ondrej Palat left the bench in the third period after taking a hard hit. After the game, Cooper refused to take any questions about the injuries but he did make a reference to the Lightning's rash of banged-up players.
NY Islanders @ New Jersey 3-2 SO - Martin Brodeur, in what could be his last start for the New Jersey Devils, allowed shootout goals to Frans Nielsen, Josh Bailey and Ryan Strome, and the Islanders won 3-2 Friday at Prudential Center. Brodeur, who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has expressed a desire to play for a team that will assure him more games. Friday was his 38th; Cory Schneider has played in 45. Brodeur made 28 saves, including eight in the third period and four in overtime, but the Devils dropped to 0-13 in shootouts this season while extending their NHL-record losing streak to 17. The Devils, who are 4-for-45 in the tiebreaker, last celebrated a shootout victory March 15, 2013, at the Philadelphia Flyers. Ryan Carter, who scored in the first period to pull the Devils into a 1-1 tie, said Brodeur was on top of his game. Nielsen scored on Brodeur to open the shootout before New Jersey's Damien Brunner connected against New York goalie Anders Nilsson. Bailey then scored on a spin-o-rama before Jaromir Jagr missed his attempt in the second round. Strome won the game on another spin-o-rama. Brodeur is 0-5 in shootouts this season and has allowed eight goals on 16 attempts. Brodeur stopped Brock Nelson with his right pad and blocker on a breakaway 1:24 into overtime and snared a slap shot by Bailey at 3:18 during a 4-on-3 power play for the Islanders with Jon Merrill in the box for tripping. Strome tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal 19 seconds into the third period. After collecting a pass from Nielsen, Strome used Devils defenseman Andy Greene as a screen at the right hash before taking a wrist shot that beat Brodeur high on the short side for his seventh of the season. Nilsson, who finished with 25 saves, denied Jagr and Dainius Zubrus from in close with seven minutes left and the game tied 2-2. Brodeur stopped 13 shots in the second period when the Islanders turned on the heat following a lackluster first. The likely Hall of Fame goalie was checked by a teammate with 1:12 left in the second when Islanders forward John Persson knocked Zubrus into Brodeur during a rush. After a few minutes and following several chants of "Marty! Marty!" the 41-year-old was back on his feet. Brodeur denied defenseman Matt Donovan on a shot from the top of the right circle with 3.3 seconds remaining and the Islanders on a power play in the second period. New York led 1-0 before Carter and Elias scored to give New Jersey the lead. The Devils outshot the Islanders 13-4 in the first period. Elias broke the 1-1 tie with 8.3 seconds remaining when he shot between the circles after getting a pass from Travis Zajac. Elias used Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic as a screen for his 18th of the season. Carter pulled the Devils into the tie when he jammed home an attempt from the slot at 11:03 after getting a feed from Steve Bernier from behind the cage. The Islanders opened a 1-0 lead 59 seconds earlier when Lee took a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Brodeur to the long side underneath his right arm. It was Lee's first goal in 13 games.
Winnipeg @ Calgary 5-3 - It took Paul Postma until the final period in the final game to score his first NHL goal of the season. He picked a fine time to get it, and in familiar territory no less. Postma's third-period goal stood as the winner after Michael Hutchinson's 35-save performance lifted the Jets to a 5-3 victory against the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. The Jets sent themselves into the offseason on a winning note and managed to spoil the Flames' home finale in the process. It didn't stop fans from leaving the 26th-place Flames with a lengthy standing ovation. Calgary concludes its regular-season schedule Sunday at the Vancouver Canucks. After a scramble off a draw, Anthony Peluso worked the puck back to Postma, who fired a point shot through traffic and past Flames goaltender Karri Ramo to put the Jets ahead 4-3 with 10:44 remaining in the third period. Curtis Glencross rang a wrist shot off the post on the next shift, and Hutchinson held the fort from there. The Jets rookie goalie denied Sean Monahan and Paul Byron during a scramble with 7:30 remaining and turned aside TJ Galiardi's set-up of Kevin Westgarth on the doorstep 45 seconds later. Hutchinson then stared down Jiri Hudler, who tried to pull the goalie out of position with three head fakes before Hutchinson made a pad save. He capped a frantic six minutes from the Flames by flashing a glove to deny Kenny Agostino on a breakaway with 3:50 left. Blake Wheeler gave Hutchinson some breathing room with 56.8 seconds remaining, sending a puck into the empty net with Ramo on the bench for the extra attacker. The Flames outshot Winnipeg 14-1 between the Postma and Wheeler goals. Michael Frolik and the Jets wasted little time in trying to spoil Calgary's final game on home ice this season. With the puck in the high slot, Frolik fired a shot that almost immediately glanced off Matt Stajan before hitting a stationary TJ Brodie and finally dropping behind Ramo and into the net to put Winnipeg up 1-0 at 7:23 of the opening period. Ramo recovered to rob Bryan Little with an outstretched pad near the midway mark of the period before Evander Kane extended the Jets' lead to two. After gaining the Flames zone, Little dropped a pass to Kane, who slid a shot through Ramo for his 19th goal with 3:50 remaining in the opening period. Calgary responded 64 seconds into the second. Byron provided the grunt work with some stickhandling to keep the puck in the Jets zone before spotting Brodie at the point. His shot was redirected by Stajan before Hudler tipped it behind Hutchinson to cut the Jets' lead to 2-1. Carl Klingberg scored his first NHL goal on a wraparound at 8:48 to restore the Jets' two-goal lead, but Calgary tied the game by scoring twice in 24 seconds. During a 5-on-3 power play, Monahan finished a three-way passing play orchestrated by Glencross and Hudler by lifting a shot over a sprawled Hutchinson at 11:46 for his 22nd goal, the most for a Flames rookie since Paul Ranheim (26) and Sergei Makarov (24) in 1989-90. The Flames then cashed in on the 5-on-4 advantage that followed to tie the game. Kris Russell kept the puck in at the blue line before taking a stride in and firing a snap shot over Hutchinson's glove at 12:10 to make it 3-3.